I went to Creek’s house for the first time ever. They hadn’t been to school for a couple of days, and I texted him to ask if he needed anything. Chocolate milkshakes was his answer, so I had to get that for him. It wasn’t a bother though.

I walked up onto the porch, rang the little doorbell, and waited. They had a screen-door here and a regular front-door.

I wanted a screen-door.

Their front porch was also really nice. A wisteria leaned against the house, branches crawling up and around the bannisters and poles holding up the little roof, making it look like there were purple curtains. I bet it was absolutely wonderful to sit out here.

The door opened and a middle-aged short woman opened the door. Her whole face immediately broke into a smile. “You must be Gael,” she said with a voice that sounded a tad withered but also wise. Deep too for a woman. And hoarse.

“Yes, that’s me. Lovely to meet you Mrs. Creek.” I would’ve shaken her hand, but I had milkshakes in both of mine.

“Oh, oh no. None of that. I’m Maura and nothing else. Mrs. Creek is my mother-in-law.” She had a booming and infectious laugh and I found myself smiling back at her. “It’s so good you’ve come to see Creek. He really needs a pick-me-up. Has been walking around in their jammies for days, and he’s starting to smell.”

“Mum!” Creek’s voice sounded from inside and they appeared quickly beside their mother pushing her away from the door. “Thank you very much for opening the door, bye bye now. We’re gonna sit out here.” He stepped out on the porch and closed door behind them. “I swear to every single god out there, that woman talks too much.”

She wasn’t exactly lying. Creek usually dressed in big hoodies and nice jeans paired with nice sneakers. They always had pristine sneakers. I was a little jealous because mine always got dirty immediately. I wondered if Fred had a spell for that.

But now Creek was wearing sweats and an oversized t-shirt with some band called Monochrome Skyline. It had also passed its expiry date for how many times it could be washed.

“I’ve got milkshakes,” I tried and handed one to him.

“You’re a peach.” They sat down on the swinging bench and motioned me to join them. “I mean it. It was nice of you to satisfy my craving for chocolate milkshakes.”

“Hey, cravings need to be respected. After a shift, my biggest craving is like… Salads. Because I’ve spent two nights in a row eating small animals raw. So, all I want is something green and crunchy.”

“I’ll remember that for next month then.” He smiled a little tiredly and wrapped his lips around the straw.

We sat in silence for a while, softly swinging back and forth on the swing bench. There were some birds singing from the wisteria tree and a nice soft breeze slipping in between the purple curtain of flowers, making them sway.

“My dad loved wisterias,” I said then, breaking the silence.

Creek glanced at me, silently urging me to continue.

“He tried planting a tree in our garden, but there wasn’t enough sun, so it never grew as large as this one.”

“We can’t get it to stop. Soon it’ll be inside the house too. My mum has given up with it but still tries to cut some of the branches here and there. Seems like two new ones just sprout in its place.”

“It’s beautiful though.”

Creek nodded and took another sip of his milkshake. “Thanks for coming over.”

“It’s no bother. It was about time anyways, right?”

They smiled and nodded. “Yeah, my mum was starting to think you didn’t want to come over. She’s also expecting you’re staying for dinner, by the way. So, I hope you don’t have any plans.”

“No plans,” I said with a bit of a cracking voice. In all honesty, I was nervous. Parents had never really been a fan of mine, so my friends as a kid usually didn’t invite me to their homes. I wasn’t sure if it was because of how my mum left my dad to raise me or if it was because he let me do whatever I wanted with my looks… Or if it was because I was gay. But parents never liked me, even when I tried my hardest, so it still sat in me, despite being an adult now.

“You’re sure I’m not imposing though, right?” I added a little hesitantly.

“Oh no, no. Like she’s insisting. It’s basically an order and you don’t wanna get on her bad side.” He chuckled a little. “But for real, she just wants to know my friends. She’s protective like that.”

“That’s nice of her.”

“Yeah, but like, I’m also twenty-one years old. I don’t need her hovering.”

“This might sound really sad, but I’d love if my dad could still hover. I know I’d be annoyed as hell by him wanting to meet you all, especially meeting Abel, and he’d crack really cringe-y jokes. But I kind of hate how he’s missing all of this.” I bit the inside of my bottom lip to keep myself from tearing up. It didn’t really work. “Sorry,” I muttered and wiped my eyes in my jumper-sleeve.

“Don’t apologise.” They patted my knee a little awkwardly. “In banshee culture you’re never truly gone, even when you’ve left this life. Like there are ghosts after all. Your dad might be looking over you. In most cases there’s usually a parent or grandparent hanging about. They’re not very chatty and usually hide from us because they don’t wanna be interrupted in watching their loved ones.”

I nodded a bit and teared up harder. “Thanks.”

“Nah no need. You brought me milkshake.”